Archive

Personal computer sales are down across the industry as consumers turn toward newer devices such as smartphones and tablets and await the arrival of system upgrades like Windows 8, according to reports from Gartner and IDC. PC sales for the second quarter in the U.S. were down between 6 and 11 perce...

The complexities of modern life amuse us, confuse us and confound us. The vast majority of people using computers and smartphones have hardly a clue as to their inner workings. These devices are a mystery. They are magical, and we are much like Alice in this technological wonderland. Even more comp...

On Thursday a federal judge in New York denied a request by several broadcasters including ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC to shut down startup Aereo's streaming video platform, which utilizes arrays of dime-sized antennas to receive free, over-the-air programming and then streams the content online and even ...

A months-long disagreement over the fees DirecTV should pay to Viacom for some of its most popular programming has turned into steely-eyed brinkmanship between the two companies -- and DirecTV's customers caught in the middle. Viacom proposed increasing the fees DirecTV pays for programming offered ...

Google introduced a pilot program Wednesday to allow more e-commerce merchants to add Search as You Type results to their product search tools. Search as You Type works within a retailer's existing search system but adds Google's predictive text, spelling suggestions and product photos and informati...

Net neutrality boils down to the basic decision we need to make as a country. There are three different tracks we can take, and we have to choose one. One, broadband is just another service from the phone company or cable television company. They control everything, including which sites get the fas...

Oracle is snapping up another social media company: It announced this week that it has entered into an agreement to buy Involver, a platform provider of SML, or social markup language. SML is a developer tool used to create customized marketing applications for social media sites and Web campaigns. ...

To listen to Microsoft's Steve Ballmer talk, you'd think he was the prime minister of a besieged nation, rather than the captain of one of the largest software companies in the world. In an interview Tuesday with CRN, a website for VARs and technology integrators, the flamboyant head of Microsoft pl...

Google is about to be smacked with the highest fine ever levied by the Federal Trade Commission -- $22.5 million -- according to reports. The search engine is expected to agree to the stiff penalty to put to rest the agency's concerns over its apparent privacy violations in connection with Apple's S...

There's a new "Big Brother" on the scene. Some of the largest automobile insurance companies are now using driving data obtained from GPS and other devices to create preferred pricing for those who submit real-time driving data that demonstrate their good driving habits and low risk. So, if drivers...

In response to increasingly aggressive ads in free mobile apps, mobile security firm Lookout on Monday released guidelines to protect consumer privacy and security and promote responsibility among advertisers. The guidelines offer mobile ad providers information about how to target advertising, whil...

Following a 30-day period in which the company lost $2 billion in value, Research In Motion executives faced shareholders Tuesday at the company's annual meeting. On the positive side, CEO Thorsten Heins reportedly told shareholders the company remains strong in some market segments. However, he adm...

Andreessen Horowitz is investing $100 million in GitHub, the San Francisco startup that provides online resources for software programmers. It's the largest investment the venture capital firm has ever made. Github's acceptance of the cash is notable. Unlike many startups, the company has been profi...

Good customer relations management involves a two-way process -- making sure that customers are consulted as well as targeted. In fact, it is far more likely that a vendor will hit the target if consumer input is part of the marketing process. Two recent surveys have taken the measure of the ultimat...

Yahoo and Facebook are ending their patent infringement lawsuits against each other with a settlement that includes a licensing partnership as well as an expanded content distribution and advertising relationship. The new agreement allows for collaboration on ad campaigns during major media events. ...